


Out of the woods and home before the dark

by Mary_Elphaba



Category: Into the Woods (2014), Into the Woods - Sondheim/Lapine
Genre: Alternate Ending, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Injury, Injury Recovery, Married Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-11
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-09-16 08:21:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16950393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mary_Elphaba/pseuds/Mary_Elphaba
Summary: What if Jack didn't take the Baker's wife's scarf from dead hands? What if there indeed was an happy end? At least for the Baker and his wife.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Sooo...Hiii!  
> So now that the first chptr is uploaded I'm gonna show myself to you;)  
> I just recently watched the movie “Into the Woods" and I really loved the Baker-family (and the Bakers Wife). So it's clear that I was very sad about the Baker’s Wife's dead and I wondered how the story could’ve ended when she hadn't die.  
> So…  
> In my story the Baker and the Baker's Wife are named “John" and “Anne” but the Baker always calls his wife “Annie" for I thought that was a name that fits her character very well.  
> I’m actually not an english native-speaker (I'm german and only 14 years old) so it would be great if you could tell me if I make any mistakes…  
> Anyway…I would love to read some comments;)  
> Until then and I hope you like my story:)  
> C u

**Chapter ONE**   
**The „Remember me“-Scarf**

  
Jack ran so very fast that he almost missed the woman´s skirt that peeked out from under a shrub.  
It was familiar to him but he first didn´t recognize whose skirt it was.  
He reached out to pull the skirt close but it was heavy –too heavy for his thin arms.  
And when he looked why it was that heavy, he jerked.  
“The Baker´s wife.”, he whispered.  
The way the woman laid on the grass, the body unusually twisted, he just knew that she was dead.  
As dead as a rat in a rattrap.  
There was blood in her beautiful brown-blondish hair and wounds were all over her arms.  
Jack really wanted to leave her dead body in peace, but then he saw the Baker´s wife´s scarf and he had to think of the baker and how much he would probably love to have a souvenir of his wife.  
So he took it from the dead woman´s neck and ran.  
Jack had lost much of time at the Baker´s wife´s body. Time that was so very valuable for someone that ran away from a witch.  
And when he heard the fast steps behind him, he knew that he had lost far too much time.  
“Stay still!”, shouted the screechy voice of the witch, “Stay still, you stupid boy! You´re the reason for all the trouble in our beautiful kingdom! Stay still or I´m gonna hex you into stone!”  
But Jack wouldn´t listen.  
He just ran and ran and didn´t see the large oak tree right in front of him.  
There was a loud crash and everything went black.  
“Humans are just blind.”, someone mumbled and laughed.

*******

Everything hurt.  
Her head, her arms, her legs...just her whole body.  
She couldn´t open her eyes that much hurt was in her bones –broken bones, probably.  
“Shouldn´t it be over?!”, she tried to say, “Shouldn´t I be dead after such a fall?!”  
But she clearly wasn´t.  
So there was pain. Pain as bad as she´d felt when she´d given birth to her little son.  
Georgie...he must be okay. Because if he wasn´t, then she would probably die no matter how healthy she´d feel.  
“John...”, she whispered, “John where´re you? Where´re you?...Whe-“  
She couldn´t finish the sentence before her eyes closed. She just was so tired.  
The black welcomed her as if she was an old friend but behind that calming dark there were awful dreams. Dreams about how she fell down from that cliff, dreams about how her lovely son and her adorable husband would fall down from the same cliff, dreams about the Little Red Ridinghood and Jack falling from the cliff...dreams about giants and lady-giants and witches and all together.  
They were nightmares.  
But she wouldn´t wake up.  
Well, actually she would, but she wouldn´t wake up without a heart-disturbing scream of fear and sadness.  
She knew it; They all thought she was dead and when she thought of how she´d almost betrayed her husband with that sycophantic prince she really wanted to be dead.  
She wanted to blame the prince for being a seducer, she wanted to blame the witch for being such an...awful witch.  
But. She thought. If they all think that I am dead, then they won´t search for me. So how am I supposed to get home to my dearly house with that lovely bakery room and the warm oven?!  
It was cold out here in the woods. Too cold for a crashed woman that had just given birth to a child a few weeks ago.  
“I wanna get home.”, she whispered, “I wanna get to my child and my husband.”  
And that was it; The wakeup call for her mind.  
She could suddenly open her eyes and although she felt that much pain, she managed to stand up.  
Then she began to go, searching for every tree and shrub to protect herself from falling to the ground.

_“Just a moment..._  
_One...peculiar, passing moment._  
_Must it all be either this or that_  
_Either good or bad_  
_Is it always “could”_  
_Is it never “good”_  
_I thought that´s what woods are for_  
_For those moments in the woods.”_

*******

“You shouldn´t be like that.”, the Little Red Riding Hood said to the Baker.  
“Like what?”, he answered, a little bit angry, a little bit sad.  
“Well...”, the girl said, “You seem to be so...sidetracked. so sad.”  
The Baker swallowed hard, “Can´t I be sad about my wife´s dead?!”  
“Of course you can be!”, The girl said, “But I don´t think that your wife would want you to be that sad.”  
The Baker didn´t answer. He just stared down on his little son who slept in his arms. Safe and sound just like his wife should be too.  
His thoughts always went back to her. Anne had been such a beautiful woman.  
Those perfect blue eyes; large and true. Her warm and gently skin with those reddish cheeks and her wonderful, slightly curled, brown hair...  
“See?”, Little Red said reproachful, “Don´t be like that! It scares me. And your son too.”  
The Baker looked down and blinked.  
George looked at him with wide opened eyes. He seemed just like he would begin to cry right now.  
“I´m sorry.”, the Baker said to Little Red and his son, “I just...”  
He sniffed, “I just miss my wife that much.”  
Little Red lowered her eyes, “I´m so sorry for your lost.”  
Cinderella reached them and walked next to both of them, “I´m too. It´s terrible.”  
Slowly Jack caught their steps and all of them walked slowly and still everyone lingered at another thought.  
The Baker at his wife, Cinderella at her Prince, The Little Red Riding Hood at her mother and her granny and Jack at his mother.  
And everyone was a little bit melancholy and very sad.  
“You know...maybe we should tell each other something about ourselves.”, Cinderella started, “I mean...we´re going to live with each other but I barely know you.”  
Jack nodded, “Right.”  
But silence caught the four of them again and no one talked for at least five minutes.  
One could only hear the heavy steps of the four people that wandered through the wood.  
Those five minutes seemed to be the longest five minutes that had ever been there.  
“You know...”, Little Red began, “I actually don't come from here, or from your village.”  
She went a little bit more bowed down, “My mother and I used to live at the village in the valley. It's brighter and more colourful down there than it is in your village. I didn't know that there was such a big wood right in the middle of our kingdom with trees so big that people can live inside of the trunks. I didn't know anything about the life outside of my home. But when my grandfather died an my grandmother would live alone in her small house, she decided to move out and live somewhere else. Somewhere quieter, somewhere...just somewhere else. And first my mother accompanied me on the journey into the woods but then -when I visit you and your wife at the bakery- my mother had to help out on the fields and I had to go alone.”  
She went still.  
No one spoke.  
It was just as if they would play a game; One tells a story about his life and all the others fall silent until another one raises his voi-  
“You know, my mother never told me about my father. He was there sometimes, like a hushing feeling or a small breeze in my thoughts, but my mother never spoke about him.”, Jack mumbled, “Without a man to work, my mother had to do everything on her own. She worked really hard so she never was in a very good mood. You know; We didn't always just had Milkywhite. We first had three cows. But then everything got more expensive and my mother couldn't buy that much hay. So we must sell the two cows so that only Milkywhite was left. I wasn't as sad as I was when I sold Milkywhite but it felt like losing old friends of mine. And...well You know the rest of the story. I don't have to tell you again.”  
And once again, everyone fell silent.  
This time the silence lingered longer than any silence before and the longer they went, the more uncomfortable they felt.  
That heavy silence that laid over them like a dark cloth, only disappearing when someone talked.  
“So...”, The Baker started, “It's a very long story to tell but I think we've got enough time. You know...I met-“ -he stopped and started again, eyes filled with tears- “I met my wife early in my life. She always was the little girl that lived next to me...”

_...He sometimes saw her at school, sitting in the back of the room and watching the teacher._  
_She had those large, blue eyes -blue like nothing he had ever seen before- and beautiful brown hair with a slightly curl._  
_When she thought about the teacher's question she always wrapped one strike around her finger and bit her bottom lip so hard that he thought there would be blood. But there wasn't._  
_She never just was “The Shoemaker's daughter" to him. She was the world._  
_But to her he would never be more than “The Baker’s son”._  
_Yes, the two of them went home together, silent and never speaking a word, but they didn't really know each other._  
_And the older they grew, the quieter they became._  
_There were shy looks and small smiles, but never only one word._  
_There was that feeling in his deepest inner, the feeling he felt since he first saw her, but it had grew stronger from year to year._  
_And then...one day:_  
_The door closed with a loud bang._  
_“I wanna live my own life! Can't you understand that?!”, she shouted._  
_He never knew how her voice sounded and maybe it wasn't the best moment to find out._  
_Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes sparkled with anger._  
_She turned around._  
_“Aren't parents so annoying sometimes?!”, she said fury and looked at him._  
_His eyes widened, “Well...yeah, I think.”_  
_That was all. He fell silent and just looked at her until she made a few steps forward._  
_“I'm Anne.”, she said, “And you are?”_  
_He was just overwhelmed._  
_They “knew" each other that long but he now heard her voice the first time ever._  
_His mouth opened and closed like a fish's mouth a few times until there were words._  
_“Johe.”, he said, “I'm John.”_  
_Anne smiled at him, “What about leaving school today and just go out?”_  
_He frowned, “Why should we do that?”_  
_Anne shrugged, “I don't know. But it would be fun, wouldn't it?”_  
_John nodded._  
_He followed Anne over the street, “Maybe.”_  
_She smiled at him again, took his hand and began to ran, “Come on. Or do you want to be caught by your parents?!”_  
_..._

“You know...My wife had always been the one to decide the things.”, The Baker finished. He whipped his tearful eyes, “And now...Who knows what'll come.”  
He touched the scarf that was around his neck.  
“I don't know what I'm gonna do without her.”  
Well...no one knew at this time.  
But maybe they don't even have to know...


	2. The Journey

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, Little Girl;)  
> I know that annoy you.  
> What is this Story to you?  
> Pls Review.  
> C u  
> PhinityForever
> 
> (I hope you recognized the "melody";)

**Chapter TWO**

**The Journey**

She didn´t know how long she had wandered but her body began to struggle against every move she made, against every breathtaking, every step she made. But she told herself to hold on.

She just had to make it through the woods and back home, where she belonged.

_Anne Addington,_ she said to herself, _get yourself together! Your husband needs you and so does your son!_

But there was dirt in her wounds and her eyes were watering without her feeling anything.

Only thinking of her child and husband and the rough feeling of the bark under her bare hands hold her awake.

The trees were mostly crushed so she couldn´t really make out a way. There were just a few leads like a rock or a tree that had been crushed already before the giant attack.

But it was enough and the longer she walked, the more she recognized.

There was the place where they had danced –John and she, before the giant and all the other bad things Anne didn´t want to think of- and then she suddenly saw another familiar thing. It was the place where the Witch had bring Milky White back to life.

Anne had never ever in her life felt that relieved.

But she although had never felt that tired.

The sun touched her bruised cheeks, let glow her blunt, fuzzy hair and let shine every drop of blood that was on her pale skin.

Anne could barely stay awake, her lids fluttered.

She heard those voices, familiar and strange in the same way.

She wanted to shout for help, wanted to take their attention, but her legs couldn´t carry her weight anymore.

Everything went black.

 

*******

 

“I never was in this part of the wood.”, Cinderella said.

There has been a long lingering silence between the four of them and she was the first to speak for a long time.

“Never?”, Little Red said surprised, “I can´t believe that. I almost came here every day to the bakery...”

Jack nodded, "My mother and me too. She always had good talks with your-" –He stopped, knowing that he shouldn´t finish his sentences.

“Her sweets were always better than mine.”, the Baker whispered.

“But...you know”, he said to Cinderella, “I think from now on you´re the one to make the sweets. I´m just the one for bread.”

Little Red suddenly stopped and looked at the ground as if there was something that had caught her interest.

"Mr. Baker!", she shouted, "Mr. Baker, Your wife had a heart-shaped necklace, hadn´t she?”

The Baker frowned and stood as still as the trees around him stood.

“Yeah...”, he said a little bit confused.

Little Red bent down and picked up something from the leafy ground, something glowing in the sun.

“Well...”, she began, “I wonder what your wife´s necklace has to do on this ground.”

The Baker´s eyes widened, “Are you serious?!”

He stumbled forward until he reached Little Red Riding Hood and snatched away the necklace.

His fingertips stroke over the chain pendant carefully, “What...on...”

He started looking around, “Oh my GOD!”

There she laid. On the leafy, dirty ground. Her hair was fuzzy, her skin was as pale as flour and her whole body was covered with bruises and wounds.

“Take the baby!”, the Baker shouted and handed his son over to the Little Red.

He fell to the ground next to his wife and buried her head on his lab.

“You told me she was dead!”, the Baker shouted at Jack, “When she was dead, how could she be here?! Can you tell me that?!”

His voice was sharp and shrill.

“I-I”, Jack started, “I don´t know!”

He felt Cinderella´s weedy hands on his shoulders.

“I...The way she laid there...I really thought that she was dead!”

But the Baker ignored him.

He looked down at his wife and smiled. Sad and confused, happy and relieved. Tears fell down from his eyes.

“How is this possible?”, he whispered, “How can one person live through that much at one day?!”

He was right; Losing his wife, killing a giant, then suddenly finding his wife at the edge of the woods, alive –barely alive, but alive-.

Someone fell into the grass next to the Baker. Cinderella.

“We have to clean her wounds.”, she whispered, “Or she´ll get caught an infection.”

But Cinderella too was ignored from the Baker, who just carefully stroke his wife´s hair from her forehead and caressed her bruised cheeks.

Little Red sank to her knees and touched the Baker´s shoulder, “Mr. Baker? Come on, we´ve to get help from the village.”

But she knew it was helpless, ´cause the Baker just stared at his wife´s face.

“Little Red?”, Cinderella mumbled, “Take Jack and search for help. Leave now, go fast.”

Little Red nodded, “We´ll be back as soon as we can.”

She stood up and whipped her hands at her skirt, “Jack? Come on.”

And they ran away.

The Baker still hasn´t moved.

“Annie?”, he whispered, “God, Annie. How could that happen to us? How...We just wanted to go home, didn´t we? But look what it turned out to be.”

He looked at her with a sad smile, “But now...now that the journey´s ended...everything is different. We´ve changed...the woods have changed us, just like you said, Annie.”

His fingertips carefully stroke over a cut on his wife's cheek and his lips touched her hair.

Cinderella had never seen anything that sweet. It was a scene that let her heart melt.

And in this peculiar moment she knew that her decision to leave her prince was right. There never would’ve been such a scene between the two of them.

Of course there would've be-and there certainly had been- moments of passion and love and admiration and care between them, but never that intensive. Surely, she loved the Prince and she was certain that he loved her just like she loved him but since she knew what he and the Baker’s wife had done -or almost done- she knew that there would never be a scene like this between them.

Jack and Little Red Riding Hood ran fast and stopped with a hard swallow next to Cinderella.

“We have to get her to your house by ourselves..”, Jack coughed.

“You should see the village.”, Little Red said, “It looks as if there'd never been a giant. It's unbelievable!”

Jack nodded, “Some people didn't even know about the attack.”

Little Red fell to her knees next to the Baker and Cinderella, “You know…It’s like a lovely bubble. Nothing bad had happened there and nothing good. It's a perfect balance.”

“Like a dream-world.”, Jack said.

“I don't think the people there like me.”, Little Red mumbled.

Cinderella looked confused, “Why would you think that?”

Little Red grinned, “Well…I wear a cape made out of a wolf's skin. I carry a knife so no one can harm me…I show them how bad the world really is.”

The Baker looked up with a twisted grin, “Then they gonna hate my wife.”

Little Red shook her head, “They'd never dare. Everyone loves your wife. _Admires_ her, even.”

Cinderella looked up.

“Why?”, she asked.

Little Red smiled, “Well…she´s friendly and kind, she always smiles at the customers and…”

She was interrupted by the Baker who suddenly stood up and lifted up his wife.

The others looked at him in confusion.

“We´ve wasted too much time out here.”, he said and stumbled forward, “Anne can´t wait for us to get our stuff together!”

All three of them followed him.

They left the woods, went down the small road and saw the bakery at the end of the street.

People hushed over the street on their way to the shoemaker or the laundry, Children plaid in the dirt and on the grass and just in the middle of all of this there were five people who didn´t fit the picture.

“It´s as if nothing had ever happened.”, Cinderella mumbled, couldn´t move for a moment and then followed the others to the bakery.

It was the house next to the tailor´s house. But while the tailor´s house was very big and out of brick, the bakery was much smaller and out of clay and sandstone. Jack opened the door and let the Baker in.

Cinderella stopped at the doorstep and first looked at the lounge.

It was large and full of things for baking bread and sweets.

The door at the opposite wall still hung on its hinges but no one seemed to care.

The Baker hurriedly crossed the room and opened the second door that led to the stair up to the little apartment the Baker and his wife shared.

Cinderella hesitated with entering the house but when she heard the Baker asking for her in a loud voice, she just entered and closed the door behind her.

Upstairs the Baker carefully laid his wife on their bed.

Her hairdo had completely dissolved and laid now messy on the pillows.

Only now he noticed the blood that had been in her hair, because the white sheets were suddenly covered with red blood.

“Do you think she´s…”, Cinderella started but then noticed what she was just about to say, “Well…not ´okay´ but do you think it´s serious?”

The Baker first didn´t answer and just began to open his wife´s apron, “I´m not a doctor. But I don´t think it is _not_ serious.”

Little Red looked pitiful at the Baker´s wife, “I could run and fetch a doctor.”

Cinderella looked questioning at the Baker but he lowered his eyes and shook his head, “No. No, it´s too expensive.”

Little Red´s eyes widened, “But your wife is gravely injured! You need a doctor to check her!”

The Baker nodded sadly, “I know. But we don´t have the money to pay him. It was like that always. When one of us grew ill, the other took care of everything and even when I cut my finger once it was my wife who took care of my hand because we couldn´t pay any doctor.”

And suddenly Little Red began to cry. She fell to her knees and bent over as if she was just about to vomit.

Cinderella knelt down beside her and embraced her. She stroke Little Red´s hair and kissed her slightly on the forehead.

“It´s not fair!”, Little Red cried, “None of this is fair!”

She wept and sobbed and there was nothing the Baker or Cinderella could do.

The Baker sank down beside his wife on the bed and buried his face in his hands.

Jack entered the room quietly and sat onto the floor.

He watched the Baker, how he caressed his wife´s cheek and mumbling something to himself, he watched Little Red Riding Hood in Cinderella´s arms, weeping and crying and he watched Cinderella, how she stroke Little Red´s hair, how she cradled the girl in her arms.

“I...”, the Baker started, “I have to clean Anne´s wounds. I- well...I don´t know if...”

Cinderella nodded knowingly and took Little Red´s hands, “We´ll leave you alone. Just tell us if you need help.”

She reached out to take Jack´s hand but the boy had already stand up and was about to leave the room.

And while the door was shut, the Baker stood up and went to fill a bucket with water and get a towel.

He sat beside his wife for what felt like hours, just carefully cleaning her wounds and whispering her name.

It was a steady rhythm of cleaning wounds and squeezing out the bloody towel and changing the red water.

It went dark outside, it went cold, it went bright when the moon appeared on the sky and it went dark again when the morning mist wandered over the village.

It was midday when the Baker´s wife first moved and coughed and then opened her eyes.

The Baker´d fell asleep minutes ago.


End file.
